Another look at Christmas past

I am on the hunt for inspiration right now. So as I was looking at fancy Christmas dresses I have made in the past, I thought I would share some with you. I know, I said I was not going to do a fancy one this year, but Sydney's Girl Scout group is having a fancy tea on Monday (yes, this next Monday) and on the invitation it states that they should wear their Christmas dress. So...here I am on Tuesday night frantically trying to decide if I have enough time to smock something or if I should just go with hand embroidery. My husband thinks I have lost my mind at this point.

This is still one of my favorite bishops I have ever made for Sydney. It is Christmas Mice smocked on white pique. I thought she looked like an angel wearing it. I still remember putting all those glass seed beads on while she played in the bathtub. She wore this for two years and I was sad when she finally outgrew it.

Here is a close-up of all those beads. I think I got a little carried away.


A couple of years ago Sydney wanted a red corduroy dress for Christmas. I fell in love with this swiss edging and incorporated it into a slip. I had just enough to make Dolly a matching dress. I am so glad I did too because this was the last Christmas that Dolly went everywhere with her.

I made the collar detachable. I was afraid of washing white linen with red corduroy. I did a very simple shadow embroidery and added tatting.

Here she is with Dolly. I love this picture.

Here is Dolly in her Christmas dress too.

And the slip details. I loved how all this fabric just poofed out that dress so well. Here you can see the swiss edging I just had to use.

And I even did matching socks with a little satin bow and eyelet that I zig zagged on to them.

And she was a doll when she met Santa. Oh, man, why do they have to grow up?

Okay, off to the sewing room to figure out what I can make in less than a week that still will live up to what my baby expects out of a fancy holiday dress. Wish me luck!

Paisley Purse

I never thought I would need so many warm clothes for my little one when we moved here to Florida. I kept thinking that I would have my large stash of corduroy forever just waiting for a cold spell to pull it out. Well, we are freezing here!!! So I have been digging thru all of it and thinking of warm things to make.
Yesterday I made this quick outfit for Sydney. This is a corduroy that Sydney picked out at Joann Fabrics about a month ago.

Possible Coming home outfit

I am not sure what to make to bring home baby in late January. I was told by a wonderful friend of mine to go for Grace Knott's Nightgown because it will be small enough for a newborn. This is made from a swiss flannel in white. I smocked it in a pale pink and no real bells and whistles on it. I think the simplicity of it is why I am not completely sold on it for a coming home outfit. But the feel of this cozy fabric is swaying me.

I do love this swiss edging. I bought it at the SAGA convention a couple of years ago and I have 10 yards of it. So you will be seeing it alot in the next couple of months. In fact, a bishop I just finished has it. I will post that on another day.
Sydney had to show off a little too. I call her Vanna because she loves to show off things that I make. It also shows just how tiny this outfit really is. You will just have to excuse her outfit. She got hot and took off her cute top and just had an undershirt on.

Peppermint girl and a baby coat

Here is another Christmas Quickie. I am loving these this year. This is just a plain long sleeved t-shirt that I did a machine embroidery of a peppermint on and some fun quilter's cotton that we found in my stash. It has lots of cute peppermints all over it. I used my go-to Children's Corner Sassy skirt pattern. I am loving these on her. This one is view B which is just a gathered skirt with a lining. I lined it in white Imperial batiste and did it the exact same length so it sort of shows when she moves. Thankfully, we are having a warm day and she can wear it with knee highs and not a thick pair of tights.


Now, because we are having these cold days I figured it might be a good idea to make the new baby a coat. I used Collar's Layette and did a coat and a bonnet. This wonderful fabric is from Heirloom Imports. It is a brushed twill. It feels like a wonderful soft flannel. And in this wonderful blue flowers with a pale green I think it will be so pretty on our new baby. I just love a baby girl in blue. I had just enough to squeeze out a coat and matching bonnet. I lined it in a pale blue swiss batiste.

Love the bows on the bonnet.

This fabric was first used to make Sydney a Children's Corner Maggie. I pulled it out yesterday and wished my baby was still small enough to get into it. Why do they have to grow up so quickly. Makes me sad. I also don't understand why they are getting older yet I stay the same.

An Easy Holiday Quickie

I decided this year to make Sydney some warm, casual things. She really doesn't have many pants and I am determined to make her more. My girl is a dress and skirt girl--no matter how cold her legs get.
I took the Bonnie Blue pattern Jillian pants and did them in a knit. I like the legs on these pants and Sydney having a shapely figure these pants work well for her booty. We can never find any pants or jeans off the rack that are made for a child with a booty, so I have always made them for her. Which, of course, is fine by me.
These quick pants and a t-shirt with a quick S and here is her outfit. I think this entire thing was done in a little over an hour. And that is only because the machine embroidery took over 20 minutes to stitch out. Gotta love those instand gratification outfits sometimes.

Okay, back to my sewing room. Tomorrow Sydney should have another new outfit for school.

Skating Elves

I bought this really cute quilter's cotton a couple of years ago when I went to The Children's Corner School in Nashville. I got it at a wonderful fabric store there in town. I only bought one yard of it because I really had no idea what to make with it. I think at the time I was thinking I would be making Sydney a pillowcase for the holidays out of it. Anyway, last weekend when Sydney and I went diving into all my fabrics and pulled out all the red, green or anything that looked like a fun fabric for the holidays she fell in love with it.
Since I had such a limited amount of it I knew it would only work as a skirt for her. And right now her favorite skirt pattern is Children's Corner Sassy Skirt. Which looks so cute on her not to mention they are so fast to put together.
I did the underskirt in a Fabric Finders twill that really brought out the fun in the whole outfit. Then I found this really cute machine embroidery and I was off and running. We did this yesterday afternoon while she wrote out her Santa list.

Here is a close up of those cute little skater elves. I love their hats and their cute outfits. It just brings a smile to my face.

Christmas sewing

It is all red and green in my sewing room lately. I pulled out all my Christmas fabrics the other day. Now, I have a mess only one of Santa's Elves would love. I don't know what I was thinking. I have rick rack, fabrics, trims galore in there all over the place. Maybe I can make something fun out of it all. Sydney was so excited you would think it was Christmas in there.
This little dress I did for a customer yesterday. This is one of my favorite little girl dresses. It is so fast to smock with just these little places but the impact is huge.

Even the back has some smocking on it. And what is more crisp looking than white pique? I love a little girl in a white Christmas dress. I think it looks better with Santa too. Red just blends right into him and doesn't work for me.

This little girl is really really into puppies lately. So to make her happy with the dress I added a scottie dog with a huge bow to the bottom of the dress. I fancied him up with some seed beads. I hope she likes him!